Trake
Trake (also known as Treach) was the Tiger of Summer and Battle.Gardens of the Moon, Glossary, UK MMPB p.706 He was a SoletakenMemories of Ice, Chapter 2 First HeroGardens of the Moon, Glossary, UK MMPB p.706 who was born of a Soletaken ritual during the period of the First Empire, and subsequently survived the slaughter delivered by the T'lan Imass. He ascended as a First Hero, but in the thousands of years which followed he slowly lost his conscious mind, remaining locked in his Soletaken beast form.Memories of Ice, Chapter 2 The people of Korel knew him as the Beast of War.Stonewielder, Chapter 2, US HC p.121 In Deadhouse Gates When Mappo spoke with Ryllandaras he called the D'ivers the brother of Treach and spoke of a chasm between the brothers to have occurred in Dal Hon or Li Heng. Whether this referred to blood brotherhood or a form of friendship was not made clear.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 1, UK MMPB p.47 Fiddler said he had been present when Malazan Emperor Kellanved had fought both Treach and Ryllandaras outside Li Heng.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 2, US HC p.64 In Memories of Ice While crossing the Lamatath Plain, Toc the Younger found himself seeing through Treach's eyes as the Soletaken lay dying far to the north. The great tiger had been mortally wounded in an encounter with four undead K'Chain Che'Malle K'ell Hunters. As his blood soaked the ground, Treach's human memories returned after millennia of bestial madness. He recalled how the First Empire's Soletaken ritual had unravelled, causing many of the more powerful Soletaken to go mad and splinter into the first D'ivers. Their act also tore a Warren to pieces turning the eastlands of Seven Cities into molten rock that defied sorcery when it finally cooled. When the T'lan Imass arrived to correct the error by exterminating the participants, it was the end of the First Empire. Treach and his friends, Ryllandaras and Messremb, were among the few survivors and they fled. Treach vaguely recalled battling the man-jackal in a faraway land, sending him falling into an infinite crevasse, while Messremb disappeared. The dying First Hero was visited by the last living Imass, Kilava Onass. She told him the shattered warren had eventually been repaired, and questioned why his memories had fortuitously chosen now to return. She refused his request for a quick death, and warned that he and other mortals had been chosen and shaped by an unknown Elder God in answer to a grave threat. She suspected that when he died he would not find himself before Hood's gates, but elsewhere. Trake's rise had been long foreseen by the Elder Gods for their eventual battle against the Crippled God. After Trake's death, he ascended to true godhood with the potential to become the new God of War, a position left vacant by the fall of Fener. But he was young and weak in comparison to the Boar of Summer.Memories of Ice, Chapter 10, US SFBC p.365/376Memories of Ice, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.570Memories of Ice, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.632 During the Pannion Domin's Siege of Capustan, Trake chose Gruntle to be his Mortal Sword. The profane and irreverent carvan guard became a fierce and catlike fighter who rallied the city's defenders to push back the invaders. In the process, Gruntle and his followers, who he jokingly named Trake's Legion,Memories of Ice, Chapter 22, US SFBC p.792 took on the striped markings of their patron.Memories of Ice, Chapter 16, US SFBC p.536 Gruntle shocked Trake's priest, Rath'Trake, with his lack of piety and his mocking disregard for his new title, but did not earn Trake's wrath.Memories of Ice, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.600-601 It was later revealed that Trake had made a bargain to provide Hood with souls through the deeds of his human servant.Memories of Ice, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.656 What Trake received in return was unspecified, but may have accounted for why he had not passed through Hood's gate himself. Following the relief of Capustan, Trake's Legion joined the Malazan alliance to confront the Pannion Seer at Coral. When the Siege of Coral began, Trake risked the heart of his power to meld Gruntle and his followers into a giant, emerald tiger, almost like a reverse D'ivers. The enormous cat ran all the way to Coral to find the Malazan forces facing an army of eight hundred K'ell Hunters.Memories of Ice, Chapter 24, US SFBC p.898-902 Trake had a score to settle with the undead K'Chain Che'Malle and Gruntle placed his Legion at the front of the army. When the battle began, his soldiers again became a tiger that bit and clawed its way through the mass of Hunters. As the K'Chain Che'Malle attacked the tiger from all sides, bloodied human bodies fell away. By the time thousands of T'lan Ay came to assist, the tiger was dying. At battle's end, only eight Capan women remained of the entire Legion.Memories of Ice, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.901-902Memories of Ice, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.921-924/936-937/944 In House of Chains Treach claimed Heboric as his Destriant causing the former High Priest of Fener to undergo a physical transformation. No longer blind, the historian's eyes became those of a cat, his tattoos became the barbs of a tiger, his hearing greatly increased, and his nose became capable of following scent trails. His aches and pains were replaced by a new physicality of feline grace and strength.House of Chains, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.495-496House of Chains, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.605-607 In The Bonehunters Before the Last Siege of Y'Ghatan, Tene Baralta swore an oath in which he prayed to Treach. Fist Keneb marvelled at how quickly Fener had gone from men's minds.The Bonehunters, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.275 While under the influence of Carelbarra, the God Bringer, Cuttle dreamt of a tiger cut to pieces by giant undead lizards that ran on two feet. The tiger died, but ascended. Cuttle concluded the dying was important for the tiger to arrive.The Bonehunters, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.359 In The Crippled God Gruntle, Trake's Mortal Sword, described the God as hot iron.The Crippled God, Chapter 2 Trake was revealed to be the son of Kilava Onass.The Crippled God, Chapter 16, UK MMPB p.610 Trivia * Rallick Nom wore a mask with the visage of Trake to Lady Simtal's fête.Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 21, Tor MMPB p.573 * Corporal Picker unwittingly purchased interlocking torcs blessed by TrakeMemories of Ice, Chapter 2 which were meant for Gruntle. Notes and references de:Trake Category:Gods Category:Ascendants Category:Males Category:Soletaken